Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ecclesiastical_a	king_n	supremacy_n	2,485	5	10.5338	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79437	The Catholick hierarchie: or, The divine right of a sacred dominion in church and conscience truly stated, asserted, and pleaded.	Chauncy, Isaac, 1632-1712.	1681 (1681)	Wing C3745A; ESTC R223560	138,488	160

contrary to the truth of the Word of God 6. The Magistrate cannot be conteded to be such a Judge nor is useful as such unless he may be acknowledged to be infallible A supream Judge in our sence and that which must be here understood is one into whose judgment our Faith hath its last and utmost resolution but we cannot acquiesce in a humane fallible determination And besides what Prerogative hath the Magistrates judgment above another mans and what ease and advantage is it to us if our minds lie open to doubt as much after as before the determination No Christians minde can rest satisfied in a humane fallible opinion of divine things the authority causing Belief must have the same original that the Revelation hath therefore Faith built upon a Testimony must be onely on his own fidelity as one infallible as we believe that Truth also which carries its own Evidence with it axiomatically delivered or evinceth it self from the light of another Truth dianoetically § 11. The second Case consists in Causes disciplinarily debated being Differences arising within one particular Church or between Church and Church or between Pastors and Churches c. All Causes usually handled and determined in Ecclesiastical Courts The Question is Whether the civil Magistrate be the supream Judge or Head and Governour By Causes Ecclesiastick are without doubt meant in the Oath of Supremacy all disciplinary Causes handled in Spiritual Courts the supream Head and Governor whereof was the Pope in whose name and authority those Courts were called and managed and to whom it was lawful for any grieved party to appeal before the reign of King Henry the 8th who by the Oath of Supremacy cut off the Popes Supremacy and established his own Now I thus resolve as followeth § 12. If Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Courts be not jure divino nor held jure divino Episcopacy as it 's setled in the Hierarchy and all its Offices and Appurtenances being onely a humane politick device as hath been abundantly by the Opposers thereof proved and by many of the Asserter and Defenders confessed then I say it 's fitter that man should be supream Head there and if any man the supream civil Magistrate within whose Realm or Dominion their Courts and Causes Ecclesiastical be The nature of this Supremacy is or should be that 1. That all Ecclesiastical Courts be called and kept in the Kings Magisties name 2. That the Sentence denounced should be also grounded on some penal Law of the King for all the Kings Courts should judge by his Laws 3. That any party grieved may appeal to a superiour Court of the Kings or to himself from whom there is no Appeal 4. That the King hath power by himself or Judges to prohibit or supersede the proceedings of the said Court at his pleasure This is the true sence of the Oath of Supremacy which the Bishops notwithstanding all the noise they make against Dissenters from their Church will least subscribe unto whereas most others of the Kings Subjects that refuse to own the divine right of Episcopal government will willingly swear the Kings Supremacy in their Ecclesiastical Courts and Causes in the largest extent And though that sort of ruling men use all endeavours to suggest the disloyalty of the said Dissenters yet I doubt not but most Puritans in England would rather refer themselves to the Kings judgment and stand or fall at his Tribunal than at the Churches and have generally found more relief from under the severities of Excommunication in the Kings Courts than in the Ecclesiastical Supposing that all Ecclesiastical proceedings in Spiritual Courts of Judicature and the whole Fabrick of Church-government as now it stands is a humane Polity as is not denied by the most ingenious I know not why any Puritan or Papist should refuse for to take the Oath of Supremacy for it is no more than to acknowledge the King to be supream Head and Governour in his own Courts which is but Reason Justice and Religion that he should be § 13. But if Ecclesiastical Causes be understood of disciplinary Controversies such as follow upon the execution of Laws and administration of the Institutions of the Lord Jesus in the visible Gospel-churches of such Ecclesiastical Causes it is not the Magistrates part to be the determinating Judge of for 1. To judge and determine a Cause in the Church of Christ is to judge Ecclesiastically and such an act of Judicature is a Church-act which is always preceded by a Church-Officer and no other in foro Ecclesiae and if the agrieved party appeal it must be to an Officer of the same kind it 's not to an Officer of another State 2. He that is supream Judge of a Church-cause on Earth must be an Officer substituted by Christ for none can hold any Place or Office in the Church but by Subrogation from Christ much less the highest Authority but none can shew that Christ hath substituted the Magistrate his Church-Vicar on Earth 3. If the civil Magistrate be supream Head to the Church Ecclesiastically then because he was always so since Christ was on Earth then there was times when Heathen Magistrates in whose jurisdiction the Churches was were his Vicars and Christ himself when on Earth was subject Ecclesiastically though Head of his Church to Heathen Church-Officers for he was no civil Magistrate disclaim'd it nor could be appeal'd unto as such 4. If the civil Magistrate be supream Judge he is the supream Church-Officer for he cannot be denied to be an Officer of that state wherein he doth acts of Judicature as his right And if a Church-Officer then the civil State hath power to chuse and constitute a Church-Officer and that of the highest rank for if he become a Church-Officer his Calling and Constitution must needs be Civil and not Ecclesiastical So that the civil State hath the power of Peter's Keys both to dispose of them and give them to whom she will and the Church cannot be entrusted with them they must still be kept in the Magistrates pocket Hence it will follow that Christ hath not left power enough in the Church for the management of its own political affairs nor wisdom enough for the determining her own Controversies § 14. Seventhly No civil Magistrate can imposse Articles of Faith on any of his Subjects to be owned subscribed or sworn to by a Penal Law for quatenus a Magistrate he is not an universal competent Judge for it 's not necessary that he should be religious understanding found in his principles because he is a Magistrate 1. If he can do it as a Church-Officer we have shewed that Christ hath made no such Officers in his Church 2. If he were Christ never empowered any Church-Officer to use a Magistratical Sword he never put Temporal Crowns on their heads nor Scepters into their hands if any of them out of ambition have got Miters and Crosier Staffs they had them from Antichrist and not from Christ

or over the Catholick Church as the Pope and if there be no such Monarchical Substitute of Jesus Christ here on Earth it will appear that all the rest will fall to the ground Therefore as to them I shall not actum agere my principal part will be with the Protestants that do assert such Officers in the Church and yet deny the Popes Supremacy To whom I say in the second place and anon shall prove that there cannot be any such Officers as above-mentioned in the Church without a Supreme Pastor those Pastors being Subordinate Pastors of Subordinate Churches And that this Question may be cleared to every rational Protestant that is not fanatically blinded with Pride Ignorance and Interest I shall crave leave of my Reader in a short Digression to handle this Question Whether a Subordination of Pastors in the Church doth not necessarily infer a Supreme Pastor CHAP. XIV A Digression concerning the Subordination of Pastors § 1. AMong the many Difficulties and inevitable Rocks that the Protestant Prelacy is necessitated upon by casting off the Headship of the Oecumenical Pastor not only in asserting but exerting their Episcopal Jurisdiction or Pastoral Power in the Legislation and Execution Ecclesiastical pretended unto I thought it not amiss to debate one main Question wherein some part of the greatest stress of difficulty in that kinde doth consist and that is this Whether the asserting the Subordination of Pastors in the Church doth not by all good consequence infer the Supremacy of an Oecumenical or Vniversal Pastor We understand the word Church here as before explained i. e. when we say The Church by way of eminency we understand not or should not at least any Individual Parochial Diocesan Provincial National Congregational or Classical Church but the Vniversal Church comprehensive of all these and enfolding them as the outmost skin of an Onion involves all the other subordinately one within another By an Oecumenical Pastor is meant a Pastor of the highest degree here on Earth related in his Pastoral charge to the whole visible Church by whatsoever Names Titles or Dignities he is known and is a Bishop in the highest preheminence of Ecclesiastical Rule and Jurisdiction here on Earth from whom there can be no Appeal to any Earthly Bishop or Governour and this is the Militant Pastor of the Church-Catholick Militant to which according to their supposition of Subordinated Pastors all the other Degrees and Orders must be subjected By Subordination is meant the substituting or subjecting one under another the terms of which is the Supreme Highest and most Vniversal on one side and the most particular Priest or Pastor on the other The Question being stated and the Terms explained the Truth will by necessary Consequence appear on the Affirmative part that Subordination of Pastors in the Church doth necessarily infer● the Supremacy of an Oecumenical Pastor or Bishop And I prove it thus § 2. There is the same Political Reason for an Vniversal Pastor or Supreme Head on Earth over all other Pastors and Churches that there is for any Subordinate Pastor that hath other Pastors subjected unto him Instance in a Diocesan Bishop ruling his Parish-priests or Parochial Pastors if they may be allowed any higher title than the Bishops Curates the chief end of the said Bishop being Jurisdiction Determination of Ecclesiastical Causes Regulation and Ordination of his Clergy Unity Order Uniformity c. By the same political Reason though in a higher Sphere of Government is an Archbishop or Provincial Pastor required for regulation of Bishops of Diocesses committed to his charge maintaining the Unity of the Provincial Church Order and Vniformity therein that every weak giddy-headed Bishop may not govern after the Fancies of his own brain but that every one should be notwithstanding all their Lord-like Grandeur accountable to the Archbishop for any male-administration of Government or neglect of charge committed to their care The reason holds good in like sort for a National Pastor the Metropolitan Primate or Patriarch that the whole National Church consisting of Provinces divided into Diocesses and they into Parishes be maintained Vniform in Worship and Vnited under one National Ecclesiastical Head and Governour to whom the supreme Administration of Pastoral Function in the Church National should belong as to oversee nextly and more immediately the Provincial Pastors and Churches and more remotely all other Pastors and Churches in the Nation that there be no Divisions Schisms Heresies Contempts disorderly Conversation irregular proceedings among Pastors and People but an harmonious concatenation from the highest to the lowest to whom and his Commission-courts all Appeals from Inferiour Provincials and Diocesans may be made The Subordination of Pastors thus far allowed and granted an Universal Pastor must be inferred by unavoidable consequence For as yet there is the like necessity of uniting National Churches in one Universal Church under one Catholick Pastor as was for uniting Provincial Churches in a Nation and subjecting them to a National Pastor or Primate or subjecting Diocesses and their respective Bishops to an Archbishop or Provincial Pastor sic deineeps For by how much the more universal the Church is by so much the more universal the Pastoral Charge and Jurisdiction must be And as the National is to the Vniversal Visible Church so the National Pastor to the Catholick Pastor by a Mathematical Proportion And the like ground of relation as is betwixt a National Pastor and a National Church consisting nextly of Provinces is also betwixt an Oecumenical Pastor and an Oecumenical Church consisting nextly of Nations And if Unity Uniformity and regular Administration of Church-Government be indispensably necessary in a National Church and the care of these things to be committed primarily and principally to a National Pastor how much more is it necessary in the Catholick Church constituted and made up of National Churches nextly the care of which to be committed to an Oecumenical Pastor And if the Schisme of a Province or Diocess be of so dangerous consequence to a National Church of how much more dangerous will the Schisme of a National from the Catholick Church be § 3. Secondly I prove that they that maintain the Government of the Church by Bishops Archbishops and Primates must also own an Universal Visible Pastor from the nature of the Catholick Visible Church 1. It must be either an organized or unorganized Body and made up of partes similares only the latter will not be owned by such Assertors by reason of the gross Absurdities tending to Separation and Phanaticisme that must necessarily be inferred on such a concession If they say it is an Organized Body which is most suitable to the Grandeur and Splendour of Mother Church that she should be made up of the most curious texture and the most proportionate adaptation of parts it is by no means to be supposed that a visible Body eminent in all other parts should be Corpus vivum animatum and yet want a Visible

any authority granted by Christ challenge to himself a Legistative power in religious matters touching Faith or Worship he cannot null or dispense with one of the Laws of Jesus Christ neither may he make any new Laws to binde us to believe any thing more concerning God than is manifestly by his Word revealed or binde us to practice any alteration or addition in the Worship of God more than what Christ himself hath enacted This we have sufficiently proved in handling the Doctrine of Indifferency § 8. Fourthly No civil Magistrate can by any deputation from Christ claim an Executive power of the Political Laws of Christ in his Church for as Christ hath his own proper Laws in his Church his militant Kingdom distinct from other Laws for the right and exact Gospel-management of all his Political affairs therein and is more faithful than Moses in that very respect so he hath set in his Church his own Ministers and Officers distinct from all other sorts of Officers and Ministers in the world As Christ's Ministers are no civil Magistrates as such so no civil Magistrate is a Church-Minister as such Hence as a civil Magistrate hath no power to execute Christ's Political Laws or Institutions in his Church so he hath no power to execute any moral Laws in the Church i. e. he cannot punish a criminal offence by Ecclesiastical censures The moral Law runs through all Societies as the natural fundamental Rule to discern Good and Evil and Political Laws of all sorts should mainly respect it as the Standard and Magna Charta of all Laws and Justice which in respect of it are derivative though every particular Polity hath its own proper way and manner of distribution of moral Justice The civil State by a civil political Administration and Magistracy Families Oeconomically by the Heads thereof the Churches Ecclesiastically by its Pastors and other Officers all endeavouring by their distinct way and manner of Administration to secure the honour and justice of the Moral Law but none of these are to intermix their governments and political way of distribution seeing the God of Order hath fixed each one to his proper station and limit of jurisdiction Hence the civil State can no more punish the breach of moral Laws Ecclesiastically than the Church can punish them civilly and the Church can no more use the Magistrates Sword than the Magistrate can the Churches and vice versa neither can the Church or civil State punish the breaches of the moral Law Oeconomically any more than a Master of a Family as such can punish them Ecclesiastically or Civilly and upon that account may take upon him to be Magistrate or Pastor And though there was a mixture or rather conjunction of these Authorities in the same person in the infancy of Polities yet they have been separated in distinct persons by God himself for many Ages neither do any persons bearing distinct Offices make the Offices the same or necessarily mingle them in the performance of their several Functions § 9. Fifthly It is not in the power of the civil Magistrate or any humane Laws to binde or loose Conscience As Magistrates cannot reach it directly to charge it with either duty or guilt so it 's the greatest piece of Tyranny to attempt it by Penal Laws whereby Christians may be drawn in to ensnare their Consciences in guilt by sinning against God for fear of Man and a Christian is to obey the just Laws of man for Conscience sake i. e. for the Lords sake It is extrinsick to the Laws of men to binde Conscience it 's God that by his authority gives them a mediate Sanction and binds them on Conscience but where God lends not to humane Laws his binding power they are of no more force unto Conscience than Wit hs to binde Sampson It 's not the wit or strength of all Men and Angels that can binde one Conscience under guilt without a Law of God or divine authority to give force to humane their Penal Laws i.e. corporal Punishments or pecuniary Mulcts are very indirect and vain Mediums to enforce Conscience and very sinfully applied by Magistrates or others for that end in matters of Faith or Worship § 10. Sixthly That the supream Magistrate hath not the determination of Causes meenly Ecelesiastical and these are of two sorts either controverted Doctrinals or Causes disciplinary controverted for by Causes are to be understood here things under dispute and they controverted Doctrinals or under debate and they controverted Causes disciplinary and those Ecclesiastical things which are of this nature fall under one of these heads Doctrinal or Disciplinary First In doctrinal Causes controverted the Magistrate is not appointed by Christ as Judge neither is he a competent Judge 1. If he be quatenus a Magistrate then every Magistrate is a competent Judge and then a Heathen Mahometan or Heretical Magistrate and then you 'll say the determination must needs be very sound and good 2. Again how few Christian Magistrates are studied enough in Polemical Divinity being not bred to that learning or having so many recreations and secular concerns to divert them from it so as to be fit to have the ultimate determination of the most difficult and weighty points that learned Scholars in Divinity yea such as are studious and conscientious Christians after long study scrutiny and prayer cannot attain to a right understanding of so as to demonstrate the truth to the full and clear satisfaction of themselves or others Is it fit to make an Assembly of Divines Judges of a great and difficult case in Law There is the same reason for one as for the other 3. What determination a Magistrate makes dogmatically it 's simpliciter but his private Judgment and Opinion though he be a publick person And why should any mans private opinion be he what he will in the world be a binding Rule to the Faith of another in matters of Religion 4. It 's impossible that it should be so for man cannot make a Law to bound Faith in such things as are not founded on the light of Understanding and where they are so founded no man believes because of the Law of man but because of the evidence of Truth What Law can make any man believe that two and three make six but if it be that we must believe that three and three make six we do believe it but not because of the Penal Law but because of the evidence the Truth carries with it Non lex penalis sed veritas est ratio formalis fidei 5. The Faith of a Christian or the Understanding of a Rational man can no more rest in the opinion or determination of a Christian Magistrate without a sufficient light of Truth to convince him than in the opinion and determination of another man for he that tenders the honour of God and loves Truth cannot receive that which he is convinced of or at least suspects in his most serious judgment to be